In a post from a couple of days ago, Groo wondered how much impact the clock rules changes had on the number of plays run on opening day.

With eleven games in the bag, I thought I’d take a look at how the SEC games fared along the same lines, by comparing the numbers of plays run in the conference’s games of the opening weekend of 2008 with those of 2007 (Tennessee excepted).

Alabama – 128/144

Arkansas – 134/151

Auburn – 141/141

Florida – 118/107

Georgia – 130/136

Kentucky – 136/138

LSU – 125/131

Mississippi – 143/146

MSU – 144/131

South Carolina – 126/126

Vanderbilt – 133/126

That’s six schools with less, three with more and two the same… nothing too dramatic at this point. I suspect coaches are still feeling their way around the effect of the new rules, but I also think that once they figure the chess match out, the new clock rules are going to make comebacks harder. Note the drop in Alabama’s play numbers, and remember that Saban has NFL experience with the 40-second clock.

Two funny points with those numbers… first, Urban Meyer sure believes in calling an efficient opening day, and second, for all that talk for Tuberville about how the new offense is all about running lots of plays, it looks like Borges wasn’t as much a dinosaur in that department as we thought.

Sure, but that in and of itself wouldn’t affect the total number of plays run, would it?

Bloviation for the Dawgnation

Quote Of The Day

“It brings back a great Bulldog running back in Thomas who has NFL playing experience and has had success as a college coach at multiple schools. He also inherits a position that has been built to an elite level by Bryan. And it gives Bryan the opportunity to return to coaching the position he played and the one where he cut his teeth serving as a graduate assistant under wide receiver coach John Eason here at UGA. It also provides him with a new experience as a passing game coordinator.” -- Mark Richt, AB-H, 2/16/15